Wages and Workforce Attachment of Adults Experiencing Intergenerational Poverty

November 21, 2019

IGP Report

In the Utah Data Research Center’s latest report 2019 Longitudinal Intergenerational Poverty Research, it found that the average wages and workforce attachment increased slightly for adults experiencing intergenerational poverty (IGP) in the 2012 cohort from 2012-2017. However, they earned substantially less wages and had lower rates of workforce attachment, on average, than the reference group in the study.

Wages

The average wages of the 2012 IGP cohort increased from $5,241 to $9,715 from 2012 to 2017. When analyzing gender and race of the IGP cohort, women earned substantially less than men, and Native Americans and Blacks earned the least. The highest reported wages were from Pacific Islanders, Whites, and Hispanics. Compared to the study’s reference group, IGP individuals earned statistically significantly lower wages than reference adults on average ($7,432 versus $13,313, averaged across 2012- 2018).

Workforce Attachment

For workforce attachment, the number of individuals from the 2012 IGP cohort who earned wages year-round (four quarters) increased from 33.76% to 42.78% from 2012 to 2017. When analyzing race of the IGP cohort, Hispanics and Pacific Islanders were the most attached to the workforce, while Native Americans were least attached. For gender, females had an overall lower workforce attachment than males. Compared to the study’s reference group, adults experiencing IGP have statistically significantly lower workforce attachment than reference group adults (1.81 quarters versus 2.01 quarters worked annually, averaged across 2012-2018).

To learn more about wages and workforce attachment of adults experiencing intergenerational poverty, read the report here: https://udrc.utah.gov/intergenerationalpoverty.pdf.